Prank Lincoln, the Humorist.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2352, 24 October 1889, Page 2

Prank Lincoln, the Humorist.

Mr Frank Lincoln, who has made himself famous as a humorist of the type of Artemus Ward and Mark Twain, nnd whose colonial tour has been an unqualified success, appeared (says the Auckland Herald) at the City Hall before a full house, and no better satisfied audience ever assembled within the walls of that building. Mr Lincoln fairly kept the audience convulsed with laughter by the extremely funny manner in which ho retailed the most absurd nonsense, and as for his powers of facial expression they are simply indescribable. He disclaims from the first any intention of being conventional, and then points out that the life of a funny man is not nil beer and skittles, as any of his audience could prove

by tryiug his jokes at home. His object was to entertain and amuse them. Mr Lin oln then iu ad intensely quaint, yet thoroughly characteristic manner described his futile attempt to impress on a boy the story of George Washington and the tree which he cut dowo, and fol'owed this up by some negro sketches These he explained he put out as feelers to test his audience. Mr Lincoln then changed his tactics, and gave musical delineations. Without the aid of dress »r scenery he burlesqued in the most mirthprovoking manner, the operatic singers, ringing the changes on the adage “ John Blnw Lend Mo Thy Saw ” in all the moods and tenses and absurdities of the high soprano an i the fascinatiug baritone, and tlic imitation of both voices was admirable. Ilia imitative powers were wonderfully displayed in the sketch of a tromaono with a blowfly in it, his imitation of the instrument aod the struggling insect in it being ludicrously perfect. Tne French comic singer is admirably caricatured, so are the characters at a family party, the guest bored over the family album, Uncle Benjamin, Aunt K<ziah, Cousin William the poet, and Little Joseph, the pet of the family, all the parts being pourtrayed with inimitable mimicry and changes of expresssian impossible to describe. The Goman musician afforded him an opportunity of accompanying himself on the grand piano with an imitation of the ’cello, and following up this by Miss Gwendoline’s song, the song which could be seen but not heard, ho elicited yells of laughter all over the house. His caricatures of Italian opera kept the merriment in full flow, an 1 his imitations on the violin and reed instruments were most successful. Tlio imitation of the Chinaman’s serenade was very very funny, but it is in the extraordinary fi lolity with which Mr Lincoln produces familiar sounds that after all his great success lies—foi instance in the manufacture of a cocktail drink he produced to perfection the sounds of the cracking of the ice iu the tumbler the squirting of the bitters into the glass, the cutting und squeezing of the lemon, the gurgling of the liquor poured from the decanter, and the sudden guslLof the soda wuter. His Irish an 1 other representations are exceedingly comic, and his representation of the old grandfather on Thanksgiving-day reciting his love story provoked infectious laughter. Tne old lady afforded him scope for the introduction of a very peculiar whistling sound strikingly chracteristic of the character, and his imitations of public speakers were full of humour. Mr Lincoln’s imitation of the cornet was a miracle of correctness, and for this item he hud to submit to an encore. The highly characteristic voices of the night, the croaking of frogs, the mewing of cats, the baying of dogs, the mother’s lullaby, the squally infant, and the querulous father, were imitated with the utmost fidelity, but perhaps his greatest successes in this respect were the creaking of the gardener’s wheelbarrow, emitting its cries for grease, and the buzzing of the mosquito. Mr Lincoln afforded two hours of solid fun. People laughed when he held his tongue, they laughed when he moved, but, above all, they laughed at the extraordinary changes on his face. He fully sustained the extraordinary reputation which he has brought with him.